Catherine McKenney
The Ottawa Hospital recently submitted the Master Plan for the new hospital campus adjacent to the Experimental Farm, the Dominion Arboretum, and Dow’s Lake and the Rideau Canal. The master plan includes a four-storey above-ground parkade and the removal of over 500 mature trees. It also does not provide adequate details on an efficient connection to the Dow’s Lake LRT station.
The hospital site selection process in 2016 was not handled well, and this site was not the first option for the relocation of the hospital. Due to the destruction of hundreds of mature trees and the loss of valuable public greenspace, I don’t believe this is the best site for our future hospital.
However, this is the site that the Federal Government and the Ottawa Hospital ultimately supported and chose. I continue to work with residents, fellow Councillors, and stakeholders to mitigate the most harmful aspects of the plan.
The above-ground parking structure in the eastern portion of the site is an inappropriate use of the current Queen Juliana Park. The master plan proposes to relocate this park space to the top of a parking structure, but this will greatly decrease the general accessibility of the park and make it more difficult for residents, hospital visitors, and tourists to use. Locating a public greenspace to the roof of a four-storey parking structure creates an unnecessary barrier to access and would impact use of the space.
The trees on this site provide valuable ecosystem services such as habitat for local wildlife, improving air quality, and protection against the urban heat-island effect. The proposed tree removal is unacceptable and does not align with the City’s declaration of a climate emergency in 2019. This scale of tree removal doesn’t respect the importance of preserving and growing our urban tree canopy.
We must ensure that active and public transit are viable transportation methods for reaching the new hospital. An integrated, protected, and efficient transit link to Dow’s Lake Station is vital to ensure both visitors and staff can access the site via our LRT system. The Transportation Impact Assessment in the masterplan application shows 45 percent of trips to and from the hospital will be made by transit by 2048, which is not realistic without ensuring transit travel is safe and effortless.
I cannot support this project without
- a commitment to bury the parking garage (and reduce the number of parking spaces) and retain the publicly accessible greenspace on the eastern portion of the site,
- a major review of the site’s layout to ensure the retention of as many trees as possible, and
- a detailed plan on linking the Dow’s Lake LRT station to the hospital site.
The public consultation process is ongoing, and you can submit your comments on the proposal to the City’s planner on the file, Sean Moore, at Sean.Moore@ottawa.ca Please copy me at Catherine.McKenney@ottawa.ca